Primary education facilities across Lincoln County will swingopen their doors next week, officially ending summer and beginningthe 2008-09 school year.

All of the schools have spent the summer making preparations anddoing general maintenance work and improvements. And some of themhave new teachers, tools and facilities to offer students thisyear, officials said.

“We’ve got some new people at every school, and we’ve hadconstruction all around the district,” said Lincoln County SchoolDistrict Assistant Superintendent Letha Presley.

All of the district’s students will report to their schoolsTuesday, Aug. 5.

Presley said the district has strengthened its teaching staffwith the addition of new teachers at every school, and will havecontinuing professional development for old and new teachers as theyear progresses.

Presley said the development seminars, which are held everyyear, are designed to equip teachers with different teachingstrategies to reach all manner of students.

The county district also has made several improvements to itsfacilities over the summer. Bogue Chitto Attendance Center is nowequipped with a renovated biology lab with new technology, a newwing containing several new classrooms and roof improvements.

Enterprise Attendance Center’s upper elementary students willattend class in a brand new building, and Loyd Star AttendanceCenter’s musicians will practice in a new band hall. There areplans to complement the new facilities constructed last year atWest Lincoln Attendance Center with a new parking lot early nextyear.

Classes begin in the Brookhaven School District on Wednesday,Aug. 6.

Superintendent Lea Barrett said the district has added about 40staff members in K-12, some filling new positions and somereplacing retired teachers. The additions will come in handy in thecoming years – especially at Mamie Martin Elementary School – asenrollment is on the rise, she said.

“We’re anticipating a strong enrollment,” Barrett said. “MamieMartin is growing. We had a big kindergarten class and a big firstgrade who moved up, and our best guess is that our kindergartenclass is going to be large again.”

Barrett said the district might have to consider constructingnew facilities if the enrollment trend continues in the comingyears. Already at Mamie Martin, offices used by the assistantprincipals have been “stolen” and converted into classroom space toaccommodate the large elementary classes.

The increase is not just limited to Mamie Martin.

“Brookhaven Elementary is a fairly finite campus,” Barrett said.”We’re going to accommodate the needs of our children. We want tolook at existing space first – maybe even move a grade. But we mayhave to look at building.”

Students attending Brookhaven Academy still have a week ofsummer freedom remaining. Classes do not resume at the academyuntil Friday, Aug. 8.

BA Headmaster Dr. Miller Hammill said Friday will be anorientation day, running on a short schedule, and students will bereleased at noon. He pointed out that Friday is the first officialday and attendance will be taken.

The first full day of classes at BA is Monday, Aug. 11, and ahandful of new courses will begin on that day.

Hammill said the school has expanded its elementary art programand hired a full-time art teacher for grades 1-6. Now, elementaryart will serve as its own class instead of being taught as a partof other classes, he said.

Sociology and psychology have also returned to the high schoolcurriculum, Hammill said.

“We’re fully staffed from an academic standpoint,” he said. “Wehave a few new teachers, but we’ve had very little teacherturnover.”

Hammill said BA was recently reaccredited through 2013 by theSouthern Association of Colleges and Schools, and holds the highestaccreditation possible by the standards of the Mississippi PrivateSchool Association.

BA is undergoing physical upgrades as well.

“We’ve worked very hard this summer to make some improvements,”Hammill said. “We’re still in the process of doing extensivelandscaping, improvements to the gym and the high school sciencelab has been completely renovated. We’ve also worked on our fieldhouse and coaches’ offices.”

The number of students who utilize the school’s improvementsstand at just under 500, Hammill said, a stabilized enrollment fromlast year.

The Mississippi School of the Arts will move into the StudentLife Center this weekend. MSA students will follow the sameschedule as the Brookhaven School District, returning to school onWednesday, Aug. 6.